Evening Star Newspaper, April 21, 1940, Page 76

Study of Hitler as a Man Highlights New Book by Sir Nevile Henderson - Britain’s Former Ambassador To Berlin Says Dictator Is Slave of His Emotions By Mary-Carter Roberts. Failure of a Mission By Sir Nevile Henderson. New York: G. P. Punam’s Sons. It is a common phenomenon that, in times of war, the arts decline. And when the arts decline criticism must, perforce, follow. The practical work of the literary critic today is a demonstration of these statements; it is his duty now, as always, to point out to the public the books which are of most interest to it and to classify the works of authors according to their significance in the people’s life. At present the result of these labors is to call attention to a selection of books the vast majority of which deal with politics. Few, indeed, are the novels or volumes of verse which can compete in arousing immediate, heartfelt interest with the works of the political observer. Instead, the novelists and poets themselves have caught the infection: they write political propaganda—which does not make for superior fiction or poetry. The art of literature, as said, is on the decline and the critical values of which a reviewer must take account cease to be those of eternal truth and beauty and become those of immediate relevance to the world situation. On this basis, a work such as Sir Nevile Hender- son’s account of his service as British Ambassador to Germany in the pre- war years, though it is written in flat, colorless prose and is full of repe~ titions, is an important thing. Sir Nevile has formed an opinion of Ger- many’s dictator and Germany’s conduct as a nation which throws a helpful light on events of great moment to the civilized world. Upholds Chamberlain 3 Position on All Points. As far as its account of the diplomatic maneuvering prior to the war goes the work is disappointing. Sir Nevile upholds the Chamberlain po- sition on all points and admits ne flaws in the British negotiations, except in the matter of trusting Hitler to keep his Munich pledge. The British were neither dilatory nor dense, as he sees it. They did everything pos- sible to avert war—but war was inevitable. The book follows an almost day-by-day pattern in detailing the conduct of the negotiations; but, in describing the actual conversations, it holds to general terms. There are few quotations. The result comes near to being platitudinous; it amounts to Sir Nevile telling us again and again that he informed the German government that his government did not want war and would use its offices for peace, while the Germans repeated that they, too, were peace- minded and anxious for British good relations. Then war came. If any more ' pressing diplomatic measures were available they were not used. It was all inevitahle, says Sir Nevile, assuring us that he himself was conscious of a Greek tragedy motif running through the whole procedure. “There had never been, in fact,” he says, “for Hitler but two solutions: The use of force, or the achievement of his aims by the display of force. “If you wish to obtain your objections by force, you must be strong; if you wish to obtain them by negotiation, you must be stronger still’ That was a remark which he made to a foreign statesman who visited him that year, and it expresses in the most concise possible form the Hitler tech- nique. It was exactly what he had displayed in September, 1938. He was no more bluffing then than he was bluffing in August, 1939.” That is nbout Sir Nevile’s estimate of the whole diplomatic possibility—England had to fight Germany or retire with ruined prestige; there were no other mlternatives. He mentions the withholding of the German peace proposals from members of the foreign diplomatic corps until after the proposals' had been broadcast, and finds in this a parallel to Bismarck’s chicanery with the Ems telegram. But he does not admit at any point that the course of events could possibly have been altered. England’s diplomacy was not at fauit, he says, in effect. It failed only because it was used toward a ruler who had unalterably decided on aggressive action. In a like manner, Sir Nevile upholds the British position at Munich. Faithful to his chief, he maintains that the Munich settlement was a British triumph. Though eventual war was inevitable, Munich, he says, postponed hostilities for 11 months. He criticizes the observers who holdi that the German attitude in the Sudeten crisis was a bluff. Such on- lookers, he says, do not know with what the diplomats had to deal. Estimate of Hitler as a Man Is Most Interesting. The impressive thing about the book, which elsewhere is, as said, flat and tedious, is the estimate which Sir Nevile puts on Hitler as a man. The Fuehrer's conduct, he tells us, is the result of a megalomania which has always been sufficiently marked, but which is now completely beyond control. The dictator, he says, is wholly a slave to emotional moods, and Germany’s millions are dragged hither and thither as these moods ebb and flow. To illustrate his estimate of Hitler’s irresponsibility, he says that when England forced Germany to negotiate the Sudeten transfer, Hitler's disappointment at not being permitted to use his army for the infliction of humiliation and the attainment of submission—those being his personal emotional needs—was so keen that he immediately began to plan the seizure of the remnants of the Czech state to com-= pensate himself for the frustration of his original scheme—a frustration which affected him as a personal one. The identity between man and government which the book implies is, indeed, complete. The most»hmer anti-Nazis have usually conceded that Hitler has built up a magnificent | governmental macnine. Sir Nevile’s book would show us that, being | completed, the machine has nothing to do but express the sick, raging | whims-of its creator. | The idea that Hitler and Germany are, to all practical purposes, | the same thing is, of course, not new with Sir Nevile. What is valuable | in his work is the estimate which it gives of that “same thing,” the per- sonal analysis of a man who is a country. Not that Sir Nevile make: the analysis as such. The reader receives it by implication as he goes | through the day-by-day account of the manner in which the moods of | a8 government corresponded to the ungoverned moods of a man. Sir| Nevile, for his part, is quite detached. There is, indeed, an unconscious | humor about his detachment which an American reader will enjoy. He remained an Englishman throughout his sojourn in strange parts, and looked on at the antics of the native head man with typically skeptical, but always polite, curiosity. The spectacle, he seems to say, is not one that you would find in England. A reader is reminded of the story of the Victorian lady who, after witnessing a highly romantic interpretation of “Anthony and Cleopatra,” remarked complacently, “How different she was from our dear Queen!” This Is Our China By Mme. Chiang Kai-shek. New York: Harper & Bros. This book 1s Mme. Chiang’s appeal to the American people to under- stand and believe in the people of China. It is partly descriptive of the wonders of the Chinese country, partly devoted to Chinese tales, partly given to explaining the work of reconstruction which her husband’s gov- ernment was undertaking at the time of the Japanese invasion, partly an elucidation of Madame’s own Christian faith, and partly a statement of China's attitude today toward her enemy and the rest of the world. But through all of it runs the same refrain—China, pacific and demo- cratic, has been struck down by a brutal enemy which is bent on destroying the Chinese people and bitterly antipathetic to the democratic attitude. America must understand this, says Mme. Chiang. There must be no shadow of doubt about the issues. ‘Well, of course, there is o doubt. America does understand. Madame’s plea is none the less moving for that, however. It is a reminder of the tremendous extent of warfare today, and an equal reminder of the fact that only our own hemisphere is at peace. Should Germany overcome | the democracies in the west and her alliance with Russia stiil hold, China would be the only non-totalitarian state between us and a world-wide empire controlled by dictators. That, too, is something which a reader must remember as he goes through this work. ) So one may say that the volume is valuable for what it implies, rather than for the mere facts which it contains. It should be heeded, even if it need not be wiolly read. George Washington By Nathaniel Wright Stephenson and Waldo Hilary Dunn. In Two Volumes. New York: Oxford University Press. This new life of George Washington is the work of two college pro- fessors. Prof. Stephenson of Scripps College began the work and carried it through in rough form well into the second volume. At his death, his colleague, Prof. Dunn, undertook to bring the project on to completion. Prof. Dunn wrote the last part of Volume 2 entirely, and, in his own words, “revised every paragrapn, almost every sentence” of ?rof. Stephen- son’s draft. He kept, however, the original plan for the history. As the work stands, it is & monument of interpretation and arrangement. It does not pretend to offer any new Washington material, but it does provide a new manner of Washington biography. The plan of the work has been to use Washington’s own writings as the basis of the history, to carry Washington forward by the records of his own leaving and to use the authors’ points of view in interpreting these writings when there is any doubt as to their meaning. The result 45 & history which reads very like fiction. It dispenses with the distant, traditional historical perspective and goes to the heart of Washington's motives and actions in an almost personal way. The method would seem to be successful, indeed, in this particular instance. Whether it could be applied to other subjects is a matter of conjecture. As it is, one can read the work without any depressing sense of pre-knowledge. The arrangement is so drastically different from that used by previous biographers that it renovates the material. Considering the usage which that material has undergone, that is no mean praise, either. A Stricken Field . By Martha Gelhorn. New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce. This is a novel of the horrors of the German occupation of Czecho- Slovakia. Its author is a war correspondent. She saw the country of which she writes. And her opinion is simply a reiteration of Sherman’s. She describes the Germans as “a hopeless people,” meanding by her | adjective that they are beyond hope of reformation to the standards of the civilized world. The atrocities, the broken lives, the dis- appearances—all these familiar properties of the Nazi novel fill her pages, and of the sincerity of her emotion one cannot doubt. Beyond that, her book is not remarkable. A workmanlike job, that is all one can say for it. = THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, APRIL 21, 1940—PART FIVE. The Literary World—Reviews of Current Publications in Various Fields HENRY BELLAMAN. . His “Kings Row” is the story of a typical Middle Western small town.—Horowitz Photo. MME. CHIANG KAI-SHEK. The American - educated wife of the generalissimo of the Chinese forces writes of her native land in “This Is Our China.” —A. P. Photo. Novels. MRS. SKEFFINGTON. By Eliza- beth. New York: Doubleday, Do~ ran & Co. Typical sweet “Elizabeth” stuff, about a lady getting used to the loss of her beauty. DARK MEMORY. By Jonathan Latimer. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co. Story of beautiful young woman mixed up in explorer's expedition in the Belgian Congo. RETURN TO SPRING. Mordaunt. stone Press. One of those tales in which a young married woman battles against her husband’s relatives. KING COBRA. By Frank Dudley. New York: Carrick & Evans. Story of a masked organization, its growth and rise to power. PILGRIMS ON THE EARTH. By Margaret Marchand. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. Story of steel mill Irish in a Pennsylvania town. THE WINDS OF SPRING. By Walter Havighurst. New York: The Macmillan Co. A novel of the prairie pioneer schoel, the hardships of the Wis- consin frontier and how a man found his soul (as it were) after repeated failures on the land. Worthy. By Elinor New York: Grey- The Strange Lives of One Man By Ely Culbertson. Philadel- phia: The John C. Winston Co. As far as the reviewer knows, there are two good reasons why an au- tobiography should be written. One is that toe author of such a work has acquired such prominence be- fore the world that his personal his- tory becomes a thing of general interest. The other is that some one may have lived so interesting a life that, though it has brought its owner no fame, its experiences cannot but have significance to the public. In either case, a man or woman has a right to take the world into confidence about personal mat- ters. Lacking either justification, however, a book which pours out its author’s intimate history for everyone to see is simply an error of taste. That, unhappily, is the case with Mr. Culbertson’s story of himself. There seems to be no rea- son for it whatsoever. M.-C. R. Rediscovery: Watch Below By William McFee. New York: Random House. There are two kinds of books which can be written by men who have an expert’s knowledge of some sub- ject—the best and the worst. Of the latter kind, it is one of those curi- osities in nature that 8 human be- ing may know all there is to know about a matter and yet be unable to convey to his fellows any particle of his knowledge, except in language so dull as to be downright terrifying. Yet it often happens. Any one who has tried to read the average military expert’s statements of his craft will know'what the reviewer means; for some reason, the warrlors of the world are perculiarly muscle-bound as regards the use of the pen. Per- haps they unconsciously venerate Charlemagne, who, history tells us, could only make his mark. There are other specialists, however, who are just as deadly. A scientist may engage for a lifetime in pursuit of some agile germ, going through, in the process, adventures of the ut- most beauty and imagination. When he comes to write his story, he will, nine times out of ten, handle it so as to put his readers in a coma on Page 2. It will take some facile penman who knows nothing at all about science to get him his proper immortality. And so it is along the line of men-who-do—they are sel- dom men-who-write. But when you find that rare one who can explain 4 In “Failure of a Mission,” Sir Nevile Henderson (left) gives an interesting and illuminating account of his services as British Ambassador to Berlin. He i s shown in conversation with Fuehrer Adolf Hitler, whose character and personality are subjected to subtle analysis in his book. More young people than ever are using the Public Library, Eighth and K streets N.W., and its branches, not only for collateral reading in prep- aration for their studies, but for books to be read just for fun. Many have found enjoyment in Clarence Day’s “Life With Father,” which has been dramatized with suc~ cess recently on the New York stage. Another unusual personality who has found her way to the sage is | Julie, the heroine of “The Nutmeg Tree,” by Margery Sharp. Not since the days of Willie Baxter of Booth Tarkington's “Seventeen” has a more diverting youngster put in an appearance than Herry Aldrich, whose hilarious progress through high school forms the story of “What a Life,” by Clifford Goldsmith. And, as a last bow to the stage and radio, there is Cornelia Otis Skinner's “Ex- cuse It, Please,” with its amusing ac- | counts of everyday problems. | With vacation time just around ' | the corner and the water warming | up in the “old swimmin’ hole,” San- | | derson Smith gives simple and ef- fective directions on how not to drown in “Swimming Is Fun.” Don- ald Budge, former amateur and | present professional tennis cham- | pion of the world, sets forth the fundamentals of the game in his well-illustrated “Budge on Tennis.” Young people of all ages will derive both fun and profit from “How to Raise a Dog, in the City and in the Suburbs,” wittily written by the fa- | mous veterinarian, James Kinney, and cleverly illustrated by James Thurber. Among other recent books which young pecple have found particular- Public Library Books Are Helpful to Young People ly interesting are Geoffrey House- hold’s “Rogue Male,” a detective story in reverse of an English sports- man who stalks a dictator; Howard Pease’s “Wind in the Rigging” a modern sea story combining smug- gling and mutiny with murder and international intrigue; “Beat to Quarters,” by C. S. Forester, in which Capt. Horatio Hornblow of the “Queen’s Navee" emerges tri- umphant over superior French forces; “I Wanted to Be an Actress,” by Katherine Cornell, who tells of the public and private life of one of America's leading actresses; “Madame Curie,” .oy her younger daughter Eve, who tells the love story of two great scientists; Arthur Hertzler's “Horse and Buggy Doctor,” a lively and somewhat rough-and- ready depiction of the country doc- tor’s experience in general and Dr. Hertzler’s in particular. With thousands about graduated this June, there is, of course, considerable interest in | hooks dealing with careers. Beirne | Lay has given a true picture of the | struggle of one young man to be- | come an Army pilot in “I Wanted Wings.” For girls interested in de- | partment stores and advertising, Estelle Hamburger has shown the development of fashion advertising in “It's a Woman's Business.” “Per- sonal History” is the record of For- eign Correspondent Vincent Sheean, who took part in and wrote about some of the world’s most exciting events from 1918 to 1935. Corinne Kern, in her “Nursing Through the Years,” has given a fascinating ac- count of the trials and tribulations of a nurse. to be Saints and Sinners By Charles J. Dutton. York: Dodd, Mead & Co. A keen-minded man who spent 20 years as a liberal minister trying to spread the simple teachings of Christ takes his hair down in this mentally exciting book to tell why he thinks the churches of today do not wield the influence for good that they should. He brings to the telling of his personal story the faeility for writing in interest-compelling fashion that made him a successful author of detective stories, so that there is net a dull page in this account of ex- periences that led him to conclude there is little difference between the people known to the church as saints and sinners. Mr. Dutton was a minister of the Unitarian Church, one of the liberal, creedless denominations free of much of the theological conventions that circumscribe most sects. But he was not “orthodox” enough to please all his colleagues, and finally resigned in revolt against what he considered petty intolerances. Many readers will not agree with all he writes, but it at least should give any one something to think about. New “I had entered the church be- cause of some inner compulsion,” MCcFee, who lately has been trying to be Joseph Conrad, writing ter- rible novels, and doing himself & grievous wrong thereby. How splendidly does he redeem himself here! Lay his book down be- fore you finish it, if you can. The re- viewer issues the challenge with the urderstending that any one meeting it is to submit to being called some hard mame. For herself, she has been engaging in the kind of rejoic- ing which the old-time religionists associated with the rescue of a stray black lamb. For Mr. McFee, until he created that Frankenstein of loquacity, Mr. Spenlove, and set the creature up as a hero, plot, raison d'etre and villain of several novels, was a writer to think of with beatitude. 3 There were some, to be sure, who always spoke of him as the author of Great Books About The Sea. But Mr. Beamish By Hugh Richmond. New York: Coward, McCann & Co. This is & story which has been written many times before. It is the he writes. “It had seemed so sim- ple 20 years before. The world needed only to hear of the simple teachings of Jesus—+love, tolerance, forgive- ness and mercy. Let people believe any areed they wished, so long as they endeavored to make the world | happier.” But time brought dis- illusionment. “Often in the 20 years,” he adds, “I had smiled at the naive youth who had thought it would be even possible to make people follow such a simple ethical teaching.” He has not lost his faith, how- ever. “If there is any hope at all that the church can regain its lost influence,” he concludes, “it lies in the hope that it will give the world the spirit which was that of its Founder. To date, the church has said everything about Christ which can be said—told us all to believe in Him. Perhaps they will some day begin to say we should try and base the church, not upon theories of His life or work, but upon His lasting principles of love.” ‘The book is enlivened by accounts of stimulating conversations with such leaders of thought as Clarence Darrow and Bertrand Russell, and of those numberless incidents of comedy and of tragedy that touch the life of any minister. GARNETT D. HORNER. that was an unnecessarily long title. He was the author of several great books—enough. Then the black gab- bling ghost of Conrad’s Marlowe cast its spell upon him, and he began to produce works which gave a reader the curious sensation that the pen used in their composition had been held about an eighth of an inch above the paper. Nothing ever happened and nothing was ever said. It seemed to be the end of a noble writing career, and the reviewer adopted what she hoped was a proper attitude toward the tragedy. When any one mentioned William McFee to her, she would speak in a firm tone of “Casuals of the Sea.” She permitted no refer- ence to the fall. But now the old McFee has resurrected himself. To your easy chairs, oh, Israel! “Watch Below” is simply the story of the old tramp steamers story of the shabby, plump, middle-aged little man of humble occupa- tion who holds in his mind the wisdom of the ages and in his heart the goodness of the saints, and who, after years of getting slapped, turns out to be the fellow who solves the problems of the erstwhile slappers’ lives. Pure Charles Dickens, in other words—a combination of Tom Pinch, Mr. Pickwick, the brothers Cherubyle and Mark Tapley. Mr. Beamish is a nearsighted little proofreader, and it comes about that he saves the life and love of the great millionaire Digby Potter, and brings the affairs of romantic but, poor young Mr.'Renton to & happy issue. He also rescues lame puppies out of the gutter and cultivates, with deference and courtesy, the acquaintance of stray cats. In the end, when every one has gotten what he wants of life, they find that there is nothing to be done for Mr. Beamish, because, of course, the Mr. Beamishes of the world, being —A. P. Photo, Best Sellers ‘The following list of best sell- ers is compiled weekly from information obtained in Wash- ington by The Star and in New ‘York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco by the North Ameri- can Newspaper Alliance. Fiction. “Kitty Foyle,” Christopher Morley; “How Green Was My Valley,” Richard Llewellyn; “The Nazarene,” Sholem Asch; “Native Son,” Richard Wright; “Bethel Merriday,” Sinclair Lewis; “Chad Hanna,” Walter Edmonds; “Mrs. Skeffington,” Elizabeth; “The Hamlet,” Wil- liam Faulkner; “A Sea Island Lady,” Francis Griswold; “Show Me a Land,” Clark McMeekin. Non-Fiction. “A Smattering of Ignorance,” Oscar Levant; “Since Yester- day,” Frederick Lewis Alle “How to Read a Book,” Morti- mer Adler; “Wind, Sand and Stars,” Antoine de St. Exupery; “The Art of Living,” Andre Maurois; “Days of Our Years,” Pierre van Paassen; “Oscar ‘Wilde and the Yellow Nineties,” Frances Winwar; “The Good Old Days,” David Cohn; “Land Below the Wind,” Agnes Keith; “Three’s a Crew,” Kathrene Pinkerton. Barber Shop Ballads By Sigmund Spaeth. New York: Prentice Hall. Hot on the heels of a report that barber shop quartet singing is again Authority Sigmund Spaeth with a treatise in one hand and sheet music in the other to tell Mr: Everyday Citizen how and why. It certainly is a surprise to find that Mr. Spaeth | has discarded the portly role of con- | cert music appraiser for the unusual and the like. has done and without cracking a | smile. In the first place, he is a stanch believer in the permanency of this | type of vocal mayhem. “Like the automobile and radio, barber shop harmony is here to stay,” contends Mr. Spaeth. More than a few per- sons will castigate the author for being an alarmist. Then again, no less than many will pat his shoulder. “A prophet,” they will say—and re- double their efforts to perfect the last quavering note of “Aunt Dinah’s Quilting Party.” Mr. Spaeth is thorough in his in- structions on singing the old ditties. Aside from the musical scores of many pieces included, the author details certain-passages of interest, pointing out the best effects obtain- able in harmonies and progressions or what have you. A preliminary chapter discusses barber-shopping in general. If this type of vocalizing develops into a landslide, we can be assured that, next to the S. P. E. B. S. Q. S. A. (Society for the Preserva- tion and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America), Sigmund Spaeth will be the party most responsible. J. W. STEPP. An Expert Capable of Beautiful Writing which, Mr. McFee says, are nNow rapidly vanishing from the seas. It is the whole story.of the tramp, to be sure—its function in the world, the conditions of its operation, and ownership and the manner of men it used—but it is told particularly in terms of the engineers, and hence the observations on experts made above. Mr. McFee himself is an engineer and has spent years in tramps. He did not go to sea to get material for novels—not he. He went, as he puts it, for “a way of life.” But, happening to be an artist, he brought magnificent fiction with him out of that way, fiction based on an artist’s perception of eternal human values and given its color and setting by the expert engineer’s knowledge of a certain environment and the effects of that environment on the men who lived in it. Now, without turning again to fiction. he writes the story of the environment itself. ‘You might call his book a stady of the tramp, save that the .word “study” connotes something pe-~ dantic and lifeless. And this is a living work if there ever was one. 1t 1s an artist tajking about his paint, 8. doctor talking of medicine, a sol- dier .talking of war—what you will. It is full of love and humor, and it is never sentimental. It is always uncompromisingly sane. To read it is like hearing good talk, rather than reading & book. But praise be—it is & book. You can go back to 1t, as you cannot to conversation. And those who respond to the phrase, “beautiful writing,” in its philosophers, feed on the honey of the gods. As said, the story has been dmm%u. But it is & good little ides, and this reviewer stands firmly in of it 3 & [ fullest sense, will know what the mhmm& sweeping the country comes Music | chore of analyzing “Sweet* Adeline” | But that's what he| Novel of Middle Western Small Town Discloses Keen Understanding Author of Another New Work Gives Fascinating Study of Revolution Fechnique By Joseph 8. Edgertos. Kings Row By Henry Bellamann. New York: Simon & Schuster. The small town stands perhaps second only to the family as the builder of American character, policles and ideals. It is the modern equivalent of the old tribal group, and its growth and decline affects profoundly the lives of those individuals and families of which # is composed. Kings Row is a typical out-of-the-way Middle West town. It was established by sturdy, high-hearted, clean-minded pioneer stock, and dur- ing its early life it possessed character and represented hope and achievement. Mr. Bellamann’s story covers a period of about 20 years in the “development” of this town and its people, It is a hard, bitter picture the author paints, of a town which in its effort to become “urban” becomes unscrupulous and greedy, as do in- dividuals. The town breeds a mass psychology among its inhabitants, which tends to crush the non-conformist. It toadies to those who achieve success, regardless of methods or principles. The town itself loses its character, becomes sordid and ugly. Young Man of Ideals Refuses to Conform. Against this background we follow the careers of & number of in- dividuals, chief among them Parris Mitchell, a young man of ideals in- ° herited from the founding pioneers, who refuses to conform, but finally wins, through sheer strength of character, against the town in a personal victory which carries with it the seed of a regeneration for Kings Row. His victory is gained only at heavy cost. His best friend, Drake McHugh, is one of those smashed by Kings Row, but who lives to carry through something of his Utopian dream for the regeneration of the place with the aid of Parris and a big-hearted, practical, clean-minded girl from “down by the railroad tracks,” Randy Monaghan, The work is based on a shrewd understanding of character and of the interplay of the forces of good and evil, which govern the actions of in- dividuals and groups of people. The result is one of those novels which - is likely to leave a lasting impression in the mind of the average reader, This is the fourth nove} by Mr. Bellamann, who also holds an honored place in the world of music as acting director of the Juilliard Musical | Foundation, dean of the Curtis Institute of Music, and professor of music at Vessar. | Revolution By Robert Hunter. New York: Harper & Bros. This fascinating study of causes-and technique of revolution is & sound warning to all governments. But the author, drawing upon his 40 years of study, knows it will go unheeded. Throughout his book runs the pessimism of Hegel's comment: “Peoples and government never have I‘esmeg anything from history nor acted upon the principles deduced rom: it.” Few are better qualified than the author to analyze revolutions. World traveler, former Socialist, professor, pioneer sociologist and writer, he has known most of the revolutionists of our times. Revolution, he points out, is a science, and its courses and causes may be determined with reasonable accuracy. For instance, most revolutions follow defeat in war, ‘V!hent coupled with economic disorder, overthrow of government virtually certain. Lenin the plotter, Mussolini the egoist, Hitler the mystic and politician —all rose to power following defeat in war. The author knew two of the | three, and he tells in one penetrating chapter why each used different methods to arrive at the same end. His views on Hitler differ from many abroad in the land today. Hitler, he says, is truly representative of the German people, and his threat to world peace is infinitely greater than | 1s generally recognized. The world now is in a short cycle of revolution, Mr. Hunter concludes, | and it began in 1914. He does not venture to predict the end. Virtually every chapter contains thinly-veiled references to American trends he corsiders as inviting revolution. A mounting public debt, heavy taxation and rising costs of living all contribute to unrest that is unhealthy to government. He scouts prevailing theories that misery causes revolution. Tides of prosperity and depression are normal, and it is the unequal inci- dence that drives whole nations almost insane. Back of all disaffection, he finds, 1§ government failure to control finances. Furthermore, revo- lutions are not engineered by proletarians and peasants, but by middle class leaders and aristocrats who have lost their all in government debauchery of the currency to meet the expense of wars and social ex= periments. To substantiate all his conclusions, the author draws u, hi: back to Biblical times. and his illustrations are convincing. "l’%: pigm he draws of democracy is not agreeable, but will provoke thought of earnest students of government. JOHN F. GRIFFEE. Alexis de Tocqueville By J. P. Mayer. New York: Viking Press. | As biographers are condemned, with such rare ex ceptions as Boswell, to a plr_qce of anonymity in literary history, relievea only by occasional “ibids” in the footnotes of later biographers, so their works, especially in | fields of endeavor unrelated to literature, frequently have a tendency to . settle into the small world which is bounded by the limits of “Appendix B: Bibliography.” While such fate may bar them forever from the roll of critics’ “musts” for readers, and keep them from booksellers’ lists of best sellers, many are nonetheless interesting, and in some cases vital to a I})g;%er understanding of a personage, a period or a trend of civilization,. It is into this class that Mayer’s De Tocqueville falls. One may be well informed on current political tendencies and never have heard of the young French aristocrat who adapted himself to office-holding through the turmoil of the first three decades of the last century. But a knowl= edge of his work throws a new light on today’s democracy and its probable trends tomorrow. A young man whose studious visit to America while his own land was in the throes of revolution, De Tocqueville was able to understand the principles of the American way of a century ago. He also was able to foresee the growth of bureaucracy, as: “In proportion as. . the central power is augmented, the number of functionaries must in- crease also. They form a nation in each nation * * * and they more and - more fill up the place of an aristocracy.” Out of this trend toward cene. tralization and the growth of an office-holding class, he foresaw clearly the next step in the transition to totalitarianism: “With the increasing. centralization of power of the state, it everywhere interferes in private concerps; it regulates more undertakings, ard undertakings of a lesser kind; and it gains a firmer footing every day, about, above and around all- - private persons to assist, to advise, and to coerce them.” From these - generalizations ne becomes a precisionist and goes into detail, 5 Alexis de Tocqueville made few errors in his foreseeing the world ss . it is a hundred years after his time. And Mayer presents his study in a - flowing, concise manner which makes the book easy to read, hard to put . aside, and provocative of individual speculation. Its footnotes and refer ences, abundant enough for the scholar, are handled in & manner which _ causes no inconvenient digression to the general reader. It is not vital ° that “Alexis de Tocqueville” be read by those whose faith is in democracy, _ but it would help them to a better understanding of their faith, RALPH McCABE. Today’s Young Men By Feliz B. Streyckmans. Chicago: Reilly & Lee. Convincing evidence is presented in this book that there are still & host of opportunities for the army of young people graduating yearly from high schools and colleges to attain brilliant success in the modern world through their own energy, initiative and ability. In the inspiring instances cited, the depression enhanced rather than reduced chances of success. The author presents in a most fascinating way biographical sketches of nearly 70 young men—business executives, writers, scientists, lawyers, musicians, inventors and others who have climbed the ladder of achieve- ment during and since the economic recession. Of particular interest is the fact that all these real-life stories are about men still in their 20's and 30’s, referred to as “depressicn youngsters.” In the list of notables are William Martin, jr., who, at 31, became’ - president of the New York Stock Exchange; Edward Stettinius, jr., at 39 chairman of the Board of Directors of the United States Steel Corp.; Orson Wells, 24, actor, director, playwright; Clyde Ellis, 32, Representative * from Arkansas; Godfrey Herbert, 21, founder, The World Explorer, Inc.; = Gerard Kuiper, 34, astronomer, who discovered the largest star; Philip Reed, 40, chairman of the board, General Electric Co.; Paul Smith, 30, ° managing editor, San Prancisco Chronicle; Harold Stassen, 82, Governor’ of Minnesota, and three-score others, - Another name in the nationally diversified list is that of John Jay Corson, 3d, of Washington, 33, director, old-age insursnce, Social Security * Board. He supervises the work of more than 7,000 civilian employes who handle the accounts of the 45,000,000 wage earners participating in olde i age insurance, the world's largest bookkeeping job, E. C. STONE. Ghosts of London By H. V. Morton. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. It is not a war-tense London that Mr. Morton describes in this book, but a serene, unhurried London that antedated last September 3. And for this his Amerioan readers may well be glad, for it provides them with '~ &?mmumwmmmqmmmmummzmspmd The “Ghosts of London” are the shadows cast down the . stitutions inaugurated by great events of England’ il the existence of many of them through the